New York Attorney General Letitia James said OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company have agreed to pay $7.4 billion in a new settlement to end litigation over the loss of the powerful prescription painkiller. .

The deal, announced Thursday, raises the stakes to more than $1 billion Previously rejected solutions Last year the U.S. Supreme Court. Purdue Pharma reached the settlement with members of the Sackler family who own the company and attorneys representing state and local governments and thousands of victims of the opioid crisis.

Sacks agreed to pay up to $6.5 billion, Purdue $900 million.

It is one of the largest settlements in a series of lawsuits over the past few years brought by local, state and Native American tribal governments and other plaintiffs seeking possession of the opioids responsible for the deadly addiction epidemic. In addition to the Purdue deal, others worth about $50 billion were announced – most of the money necessary to stem the crisis.

The deal still requires court approval and some details have yet to be worked out. Even as every state joined, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice opposed the previous settlement and took the fight to the Supreme Court. But under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not expected to oppose the new deal.

“We are extremely pleased that a new agreement has been reached that will provide billions of dollars to compensate victims, alleviate the opioid crisis, and provide treatment and overdose rescue medications to save lives.” .

Kara Trainor, a Michigan woman in recovery, said she became addicted to opioids 23 years ago after receiving a prescription for Oxycontin to treat a back injury. She praised the deal.

“Everything in my life is influenced by a company that invests profits in human life,” she said.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Vermont, Virginia, The attorneys general of Virginia and West Virginia, joined James in securing the settlement.

future litigation

Under the new proposal, members of the Sackler family would contribute up to $6.5 billion over 15 years and relinquish ownership of Purdue, which would become a new entity with its board of directors and other board appointees suing the company. Purdue University will pay $900 million. A portion of the money will also go to victims of the opioid crisis or its survivors.

The family’s contribution will be higher than the $6 billion under the previous version. The Supreme Court blocked the agreement because it protected members of the wealthy family from civil lawsuits against Oscon, even if the family members themselves were not bankrupt. The new agreement protects family members only from lawsuits by the entity that agreed to the settlement.

A new deal has been sought since the court ruling was made. If one person is not reached, it could open the floodgates to lawsuits against members of the Sackler family.

Court proceedings against members of the Sackler family are due Friday, but both sides asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to keep it in place until February to iron out final details. The deadline has been extended several times.

Some governments, including Maryland and Washington state, generally oppose expansion.

The new settlement could close a chapter in the long-running legal saga that is the toll of the opioid crisis, which some experts assert began after the blockbuster painkiller hit the market in 1996. Since then, opioids have been linked to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States. The deadliest stretch has come since 2020, when the illicit synthetic opioid fentanyl was found to be a factor in more than 70,000 deaths annually.

Members of the Sackler family were cast as villains and saw their names taken out of funded art galleries and universities around the world for their roles in privately owned companies. They continue to deny any claims of wrongdoing.

Overall, it is estimated that family members are worth more than their contribution in settlements, but much of the wealth is in offshore accounts and may not be accessible through litigation.

Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis. Among the claims is that the company targeted doctors and communicated that oxycontin’s addiction risk was low.